Course Catalogue

Justice Studies

Breakdown of delivery hours per week. There will be 33 hours of total delivery for this Module. This will include 3 hours online presentations per week for each of the 11 topics. Additional direct contact is made as and when required between the Student and Module and / or Programme lead. Ever since the emergence of the nation-state and its associated apparatus, agencies have utilised human intelligence (HUMINT). Sources are informally and informally recruited and deployed continuously within military, political and criminal justice operational arenas. The programme will also explore the use of Human Intelligence, or ‘HUMINT’ as it is more commonly referred to by law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies. The programme will examine the legislative and oversight arrangements associated with formal human intelligence sources. This includes Covert Intelligence Sources (RIPA 2000) including Undercover Officers (Relevant Sources) and Informants and Assisting Offenders (SOCPA 2005) and other cooperative witnesses. It will also look at informal HUMINT sources including citizen and community intelligence cooperation. Appropriately managed, robustly overseen and ethically implemented, HUMINT has established itself as one of the most important and effective intelligence-collection disciplines. Yet HUMINT use also poses inherent dilemmas for liberty, privacy, human rights and security. Poorly drafted legislative frameworks, ineffective oversight arrangements and ethically questionable operational rules of engagement and deployments can not only weaken its effectiveness but also significantly undermine public and political confidence in the tactic. This programme will ask how one can strike the balance between undertaking the required covert HUMINT activity while also protecting democratic values and individual liberty. The programme will examine when and how HUMINT can be used to address current or emerging threat to public safety or a specific individual? It will investigate and critically analyse the contribution HUMINT makes to community safety. The module will enable students to develop an advanced and critical knowledge of key methodological issues. Students will critically assess these provisions in the context of debate around HUMINT Value -v Cost, Privacy -v- Security, Formal and Informal HUMINT models, and the use of HUMINT in both Crime and Counter Terrorism contexts. The programme will explore the science underpinning techniques used to enhanced HUMINT use, critically appraising the evidence and exploring the research’s application in real world settings. It will identify practices that are utilised and discuss the evidence based for each to determine ‘what works’ and ‘what does not’. The curriculum will allow students to generate a critical appreciation of the diverse range of HUMINT, the interaction and integration with technical/digital surveillance, the operational ethics engaged with its use and the limitations and caveats of its use.

Outline Syllabus:Historical and theoretical perspectives of HUMINT use Policy formation in Government and Policing Legislative and oversight associated with HUMINT management Cognitive interviewing and interrogation theory and research Public Inquiry and Human Intelligence Use of non-coercive and coercive techniques - policy and practice. The principles of Intelligence-led policing.

Additional Information:Presentation: The assessment is via an assignment and a 15 minute individual presentation delivered online. (This assessment method is repeated again for the Operational ethics module 7211PS) The online presentation assignment will be assessed using a marking template which covers presentation slide composition, delivery, pace, content, critical analysis and evidence of wider reading. It also scores against Students responses to questions. The weighting is 50% of the overall module score. Formative feedback is provided to the students immediately after the presentation. Core Topics: HUMINT: Legislative provision and oversight. LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Development of HUMINT activity within the criminal justice system. LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4 HUMINT – Operational ethics LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3 Informant II - Motivation and recruitment methods LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3 Informants III – Value, challenges and opportunities LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Assisting Offenders and Co-operative Witnesses LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Undercover Policing I – Undercover Policing Inquiry LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Undercover Policing II – Operational Case Study LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Community Intelligence: the role of the citizen LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5,6 Cyber and HUMINT LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,2,3,4,5 Corporate/Private Intelligence Sector and HUMINT LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1,3,4,5